Sunday, April 19, 2009

Note to Hillman. Don't put Kyle Farnsworth in when the game is on the line. Use him for mop up duty until he can prove he can get batters out. With that being said:

It has often been discussed that every team wins 50 and loses 50. What you do with the other 62 games is what counts. Well, this was one of those 62 games. Kyle Farnsworth now has been a part of 3 of those other 62 games. While he may not be at fault entirely for this game. He was the pitcher who gave up the walk off home run that put this game in the loss column.

Farnsworth needed to pick up the rest of the team today. The relievers before him could not hold the lead. There was an error and a couple other botched plays in the field. He could have made up for those and got his teammates off the hook. All he had to do was just get the Rangers out in the bottom of the ninth and push the game into extra innings. He could have picked up Kyle Davies who after a rough start in the first inning pitched solid through 6 innings. Davies gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and struck out 8 Rangers. Not bad considering a 37 pitch first inning where he gave up 2 runs and gave 4 free passes to Ranger batters.

What did Farnsworth do when his team needed a pick me up? On his 2nd pitch upon entering the game, Michael Young hit an up and in 96 mph fastball for a home run deep to left center. Young walked off with a win. Farnsworth walked off with the loss. That is what Farnsworth did when his team needed him most. I wonder if he is sitting alone on the flight to Cleveland tonight.